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Friday, May 8, 2009

Continuing in the De Luca family series, this post will showcase the De Luca family in the 1920 US Census. Peter and Clementina are found living in St. James township in Phelps County, Missouri. Rosati is part of St. James township. They lived on a farm which, according to my brother-in-law's father, was a 200 acre farm. This is the only census in which all seven children are living at home.

Peter Deluca, head, owns home free of mortgage, male, white, age 42, married, immigrated in 1908, has filed first papers for naturalization, able to read and write, born in Italy, mother tongue is Italian, both parents born in Italy, both parents' mother tongues Italian, able to speak English, farmer general farm, works on own account

Clementina Deluca, wife, female, white, age 32, married, immigrated in 1908, has filed first papers for naturalization, able to read and write, born in Italy, mother tongue is Italian, both parents born in Italy, both parents' mother tongues Italian, able to speak English

Mary Deluca, daughter, female, white, age 15, single, immigrated in 1908, has filed first papers for naturalization, attends school, able to read and write, born in Italy, mother tongue is Italian, both parents born in Italy, both parents' mother tongues Italian, able to speak English

Lizzie Deluca, daughter, female, white, age 10, single, attends school, able to read and write, born in Missouri, both parents born in Italy, both parents' mother tongues Italian, able to speak English

Rosa Deluca, daughter, female, white, age 8, single, attends school, born in Missouri, both parents born in Italy, both parents' mother tongues Italian

Julio Deluca, son, male, white, age 9, single, attends school, born in Missouri, both parents born in Italy, both parents' mother tongues Italian

Anna Deluca, daughter, female, white, age 7, single, born in Missouri, both parents born in Italy, both parents' mother tongues Italian

Peter Deluca, son, male, white, age 3, single, born in Missouri, both parents born in Italy, both parents' mother tongues Italian

Lena Deluca, daughter, female, white, age 1 6/12, single, born in Missouri, both parents born in Italy, both parents' mother tongues Italian

Fred Deluca, nephew, male, white, age 6, single, born in Iowa, both parents born in Italy, both parents' mother tongues Italian

This is the first and only time that nephew Fred has appeared with the family. Peter's age is fairly consistent with the ship passenger list and the 1910 census. His age of 42 suggests a birth date of 1877 (the official census day was 1 Jan 1920), though family sources give his birth date as 10 Oct 1878. Clementina's age of 32 suggests a birth date of 1887. New children since the last census are Rosa, Anna, Peter, and Lena. The immigration year of 1908 for Peter, Clementina, and Mary is closer to the actual immigration year of 1907 than the immigration year of 1893 given in the 1910 census. According to this census record, they still had not fully completed the naturalization process.

Again, just a reminder to genealogists and non-genealogists alike to take census records and ship passenger lists with a grain of salt. It is rarely clear who gave the information to the customs officer or census taker. For instance, my brother-in-law's aunt says that Peter and Clementina were literate when they arrived here in the US as far as she knows. I think this is likely, since both the 1910 and 1920 census records state that they are able to read and write and speak English. It seems unlikely that they would have been unable to read and write in their own language and then come to the US and learn to read, write, and speak English by the time of the 1910 census (in less than three years from their arrival date).